Monday, March 2, 2015

The
quirky news story of the day on Monday consisted of the tale of the artist who
painted the official portrait of former President Bill Clinton – it contains a
shadow that the artist said was meant to represent the blue dress famously worn
by White House intern/presidential mistress Monica Lewinsky.

A
little hidden meaning of the shadow that supposedly hangs over the otherwise
interesting tale of the Clinton administration, artist Nelson Shanks told the Philadelphia
Daily News.

HE
TOLD THE newspaper he deliberately put the shadow (which he says is supposed to
be cast from a mannequin wearing the dress just outside of the painting’s view)
because he wanted the “taint” of Lewinsky to be included in the portrait that
is meant to illustrate Clinton forevermore.

Of
course, he didn’t tell anybody about this intent at the time. It is only now, a
decade after the portrait was completed and unveiled, that we get to learn this
new, hidden meaning, which goes on top of the already-noted fact that Clinton
was not depicted wearing his wedding ring in the portrait.

Which
I’m presuming means that Shanks has long since been paid for his work, and it
would next to impossible for the Clintons to put a stop order on the check. He
gets away with this little tweak at the Clinton presidency.

That
isn’t something I’m going to get too worked up over.

ALL
POLITICAL PEOPLE like to try to have some hidden detail included in their
official portraits – some hidden-meaning joke that only certain people get and
that most people probably groan over when it is explained to them.

In
Illinois, the official portrait of Gov. James R. Thompson depicts him wearing,
amongst other things, an Elgin watch. He felt it necessary to include an
Illinois-made product.

While
former Gov. Jim Edgar is depicted standing in his office in front of a painting
of the Lincoln/Douglas debate that took place in his home town of Charleston,
Ill.

There
also is a framed photograph depicted in the background – a headshot of his
wife, Brenda. So we have a former Illinois first lady included in that official
gubernatorial portrait by artist William T. Chambers.

BOTH
OF THOSE portraits are on display at the Statehouse in Springfield, although
there still is a vacancy for where the official Rod Blagojevich gubernatorial portrait
should be. My guess is that serving time in federal prison in Colorado doesn’t
leave him time to pose, and we may never get that view.

We’ll
have to wait and see what portrait Pat Quinn comes up with, and what kind of
hidden aspects of his life get included in such an oil painting.

It
likely won’t be anything as nasty as what Clinton’s official portrait in the
National Portrait Gallery gives us. After all, how many other artists describe
their subjects as “the most famous liar of all time” as Shanks did to Clinton?

I am a Chicago-area freelance writer who has reported on various political and legal beats. I wrote "Hispanic" issues columns for United Press International, observed up close the Statehouse Scene in Springfield, Ill., the Cook County Board in Chicago and municipal government in places like Calumet City, Ill., and Gary, Ind. For a time, I also wrote about agriculture. Trust me when I say the symbolic stench of partisan politics (particularly when directed against people due to their ethnicity) is far nastier than any odor that could come from a farm animal.